Mail.Ru Group announced on Monday the launch of its own Twitter-like multimedia microblogging service, called Futubra, Ria Novosti reported.

Twitter launched in Russia in April 2011 and currently has about 2 million Russian-speaking users, EContent noted. However, it’s in China that microblogging, especially on the “Chinese Twitter” site Weibo, has really taken hold. In 2011, Weibo’s use was up 296 percent, to 249.9 million, China Internet Network Information Center data shows, according to Reuters.

Internet connections, social media, and now microblogging sites are “usher[ing] in a new era of greater transparency in society, as well as creating a huge new business opportunity” for the firms that run them. If Mail.Ru can mirror the success of sites like Twitter and Weibo, they “could have a hit on their hands,” paidContent pointed out.

“We are excited by the opportunity facing Futubra as microblogging is a fast growing segment which fits well into the Mail.Ru Group vision of the growth in Internet communications. Futubra demonstrates Mail.Ru Group’s ongoing commitment to Internet communication platforms, innovation and mobile applications. The focus in the near term will be product development and the building of new online communities,” Mail.Ru CEO Dmitry Grishin stated.